the galah

have to laugh. good thing im not a bookie. after 200m i was thinking to myself,well i was right about go home denise,but then takes short cuts,gets the gaps and wins. helped a lot by the leader falling in a hole at the top of the straight but still went better than i though it could. Thats the problem when prince teka in the race. He always stops quickly with 400m to go if the race is further than 2000,so when he was in front i knew holly highlander in a spot of trouble,still it probably got out in time to win anyway. matt crosss aying pre race holly highlander was far and away the better horse in the race and its tote price dropped to $2.60 but mark cookson picked go home denise so its price only went out to $3.60 on the tote. oh well,i suppose prince teka will win over 2 miles next time now i've said that.

well ,since i posted about go home denise its dropped to $2.40.I obviously don't have any followers,unlike the whale.

just watched the whale tip holly highlander on whale watchon trackside and immediately it price dropped from $4.80 to $4. I think it will drop even more myself.. the whale has his followers.

i see the bookies have go home denise a $2.50 favorite. Occasionally you see some at unusual odds,but go home denise a $2.50 favorite takes the cake.I think it should be paying $15 myself. Holly highlander,a horse who has won 7 races and over $100,000 should really be the $2.50 favorite. Oh well,we will see whether the bookies get it right after race 5 is run.

the horses i have must be smarter than the horses you know as mine are quite smart.I've got one that smart that i always tell my wife,i wish it had been around when i was doing my school homework as i would have got better marks ,had it been there. then we have another one. the last time i had one get loose,i was out of the cart adjusting some gear and then i half tripped when it pulled foward as i was swapping sides . I just let it go as i thought i'm too old to get dragged and no big deal,it will just go back to the stables and no one else was there. But instead it went and did its fast work against the pylons,running the 2 rounds like i normally did. I have to say it didn't over exert itself.Lazy bugga.Then as i waited near the entrance thinking it might run off when it was finished,but it pulled up just after the post,like i normally did,turned around slowly and just stood there facing me, waiting for me to take the reins and jump back in the cart. gee that was a bad accident your dad had. that must have been a frighterning thing for your family. what happened with your horse sly davita was an example of just how horses can be impacted by falls.Life isn't always fair. thats why i feel for the connections of the horse becker. Who knows,the horse may be ruined for life,then again it may bounce back as it was a fall on grass. we had one,the horse we were following got badly checked , almost went down and then we got ploughed into from behind. My horse did a remarkable job not to fall,but she pulled some muscle in her rear end and it took 8 months before she came sound again. I myself had a sore neck for a year . Horses are fragile when they fall. people are fragile.safety should always be prioritised.thats been my point

yes that lee stable has a couple of really good short course trotters. i watched leap to fame win last night.Simply much too good.you would have enjoyed that gamma. kingman hung terribly throughout and really did well to hang in there until the last bit although laep to fame well clear from the rest.. kingman really needs to be in front and on the inside dictating his own line as he simply couldn't beat a champ like leap to fame hanging like he did.He did hang when he won the nz cup,but last night he was much worse.

i would much prefer kiwis to be in charge. The aussies seem to be so short term focused and happy to prioritise the influential sectors of the industry at the expense of the grass roots and the overall industries long term well being. just a receipe that will lead to significant stake cuts. but maybe that explains things. These aussies come over hear,the only ones they really know or spend a lot of time interacting with are the big players who of course will push whats best for themselves.So in a way,it sort of explains why the likes of mr peden and mr steele prioritise the sectors they do and seem out of touch with what so many think. aussies aye. bring back the kiwis to those positions before its too late.

i just turned on the tv and channel surfed and saw m brennan just had one runner in tonight. which ran 2nd ,part owned by n40. So obviously brennan still going in queensland.Driven by a gerrard.So maybe they will have more to race soon?

k newman is another who was associated with the brennan queensland stable ,but he obviousy came back to christchurch pretty quick,for the warmer weather.. i also see connor clarke ,who was a sucessful junior and i had read had moved to the brennan/davine stable mid year ,seems to be back driving in victoria again. People seem to move around a bit from over there. talking about queensland,or ex queensland. leap to fame is the $1.45 favorite with kingman paying $2.10 tonight due to the draws in the victorian ballarat cup . That seems surprising as leap to fame has drawn wide and given the ease in which kingman won kast week. Still,i hope leap to fame can win .

like i keep saying, you need to base your assesment on what played out. not what horses may or may not do,just base the analysis on what did happen. And besides,using your own argument,that a horse will go anywhere with no driver, then can't you see your contradicting yourself. in other words theres 2 parts of your argument. 1)That the horse could have veered off in any direction. 2)that hacket and delany took the best option by getting so close to becker,because getting close to a horse that can veer off in any direction, is the smart thing to do.Contradictory,isn't it. so,herlihy had a rein detach from the bridle when driving harrison john,so that left him with only a rein to steer with,so it was herlihy placing weight on the inside rein which saw harrison john run in,not the horse chosing to run in. And when you say you were worried about herlihy hitting a light pole,i think you are just pulling my leg,.No horse is going to run into a big pole head on. Put simply,horses aren't that stupid.In all the years of racing anywhere,can you give even one instance of a horse running head on into a lighting pole? anyways,i will leave it at that.

joshua davine,the man behind the n40 racing had a good win last night with debbie lincoln. I'd never heard of him prior to that other than when he got a lot of publicity when he paid some surprisingly big prices at last years sales and referenced the next gen promotion as part of the reason for that. He doesn't look that old in the photo on the hrnz website,so being bored , i googled him and found he has an interesting background. Everyones background is interesting and different in their own ways,but this fella has a different background. Everyone likes to know a bit about everyone else, so maybe some others may find it interesting.davine has said allwhat i write publically himself before. He originates from around wagga wagga and his grandparents raced a couple of average pacers which he followed and then he got a job in a vets clinic where he got to interact with racehorses and thats where his love of the horse developed. he then went into the navy for 6 years where he got promoted and at one point was dealing with asylum seekers. the n40 ownership name comes from n for navy and 40 his service number had 7 digets and they add up to 40. theres a story behind evey name. it reminds me of the fella with the horses with the aardie names,who himself had the nickname aardie after a tv characterwith a big nose,which he had, and called his horses that. anyways davine seems to be associated with m brennan,the former w.a. trainer and austraklian hockey rep,who now is based in queensland.Lincoln farms indicated on their website they thought that was where debbie lincoln would end up. n40 racing had bought a lot of yearlings at the sale in the previous year or two and made big plans in queensland,including some high priced yearlings. It was reported they would be raced from the brennan stable but then again n40 had a major reduction sale of brennan trained n40 horses just a couple of months ago,obviously they had their reasons,just i couldn't see anything about why reported. gamma may know more about whats happening with that stable in queensland. davine apparently has been involved in syndication of many thoroughbreds and active in slot races and i think he may have even had a share in one of the everest slot winners slot. Davine is well known for his work in supporting mental health organisations. hes previously said he loast some mates to suicide in the navy and a brother who worked in a harness racing stable.Thats what he publically said in one interview,so hes obviously happy for that being out there and he obviously deserves a lot af credit for the efforts he puts into running organisations set up to help with peoples mental health.He also said when dealing with asylum seekers could be menatlly challenging as well.Handling horses he finds good for his own mental health. He's said to be entrepreneurial and knows how to make a dollar,but just how he does that he hasn't said publically. anyways,other things are he took his wifes surname when he got married. and he knows matt peden.i hadn't realised matt peden was an aussie.Maybe that expalins how mr peden can stay publically upbeat even when he gets criticism. Anyways,hopefully mr davine continues enjoying his harness journey and has the sticks around with his nz connection.

the best way to judge what happened is simple enough.Just look at the video gamma.. the video shows the driverless horse followed a straight line for at least 200m ,maintaining the same inside running line as those in front of it for that 200m, prior to being forced to run over the markers as a result of the way c hackett drove. its not over complicated. Its what happened. as to your suggestion drivers should focus on winning the race and show no awareness of what a driverless horse is doing to her inside.Thats very reckless and will result in accidents happening.If you want an example of that,go watch the race inquestion. and you seem to be inferring becker,the horse, saw the markers,had the choice of running beside them unimpeded or jumping them and decided jumping them was the best option them .what?. and when you said no driverless horse is going to run around a track against the markers without a driver. Well,the best way to see what a horse will do,is simple. Just watch what it does.. While i haven't had much experience of that,i can certainly tell you,the last couple of times i had a loose horse,it went out onto the track,did a couple of rounds against the markers then just came over to say hullo again while i waited for it to stop.. I've never had a driverless one evertake the option of jumping pylons. You would know that type of thing would only happen if the cart is not upright and the horse is panicing.horses aren't stupid.. anyways,your a loyal supporter of anyone and anything north island based,but i think its better to judge things on a case by case basis. and just because a race isn't called off when that may have been the best option,does not in any way green light subsequent dangerous driving.

thats pretty much what nowornever thought as well.fair enough, personally i think k coppins driving early on was at the lower end of carelessness,but still careless and the resulting consequences were bad. the worst driving was by hacket. to think,the stipes chose to ignore the drivers that contributed to both nasty incidents,instead chosing to speak to the one driver who contributed nothing towards the incidents.

they are the questions gamma never really addresses. and this thread,like most in which we comment,are based around specific incidents or decision making. the subject of this topic,the becker incident i truly believe deserved a long suspension for c hacket and a reprimand for n delany. you can only judge on what happened and in this case i believe hacket showed a total disregard for the safety of the horses and drivers to her inside. . the horse fell over for a reason. You can't just ignore that and say,oh,they drive a lot of winners so no harm done. if i owned becker,i would be ropeable,more so at the stipes for their inaction,than the actual drivers concerned.drivers make mistakes,no one has an intent to knock anyone over,but when they do,they need to be held accountable.Incidents like that can sometimes be career ending for the horse. The stipes would have had the head on and i would guarantee it would have been even more blatantly obvious. I have been saying,for some time in posts on here,that there is an obvious lack of oversight and guidance by the stipes,as regards some of the junior drivers in the north island and that it will lead to driving that shouldn't happen occurring. so gamma,obviously when i see my predictions coming true,i'm going to point it out.

i'm not sure,but think if they are related he may be her uncle. gamma mentioned n delany.He had a reasonable record when diving 3 or 4 years ago But these days he reminds me of the mother in law.She drives with her foot hard on the acclerator punctuated by lots of strong braking. Just like the car the mother in law drives,any horse delaney drives won't get many miles to the gallon. as to the c hackett drive. that drive of hers yeaterday reminded me of the mother in laws driving when she had a stiff neck and didn't bother looking to see whats inside her when changing lanes. Only difference was becker had no horn to toot to tell her he was going to crash if she kept coming.

well the stewards reports for the north island are always predictable. as i predicted,todays report completely ignored the main factors in firstly,why becker lost its driver, then was knocked to the ground later in the race.. lets just analyse the stipes report and what it ommited. 1)it says becker broke shortly after the start and shifted in.It ommits to say, i'm all in,had shited in albeit not a major inward movement,but still enough for the horse i'm all in's,hind leg to contact the sulky wheel of becker.It was that contact that lead to im all in galloping,as what horse wouldn't when its leg action has been significantly impeded by a sulky wheel. You can actually stop the video and it shows that. If you don't believe you can see that on the video then ask yourself why does the stipes report note that im all in was treated for a laceration to the leg that i say made contact with the sulky. Its obvious where and when the contact was made,yet the stipes ignore that. 2)the stipes gave advice to j dunn for the manner in which he drove. What the heck did they do that for. Was he not just trying to avoid the runner with no driver. 3)Why did they not question n delany for the manner in which he drove. What on earth was delany doing,becuase there is no doubt whatsover that he contributed to becker falling. 4)why did they not question c ahckett,because it was very obvious that she also contributed significantly to becker falling by forcing the horses inside her onto becker and making him fall. 5)the stipes report noted becker jumped track markers near the 900m. Well duh,why was he jumping track markers.it was obvious.it was because the drivers outside him deliberately drove in a manner that forced becker to jump the markers now i've got better things i could be doing than pointing out just how incomplete(being diplomatic with that word) that stipes report was. i've said it before and this latest example again illustrates what i say about the north island stipes. they often overlook what some drivers do and because of their failure to give proper guidance and oversight to the juniors in the north isalnd,the standards of driving is poor when compared with the south island who have proper oversight. drivers,whether they be inexperienced or not,should still have an obligation to think of safety,not only for the drivers,but also the horsesThat did not happen today and the stipes in charge turned a blind eye. the only driver who considered safety and i believe showed common sense was j dunn,yet he was the only driver they spoke to about the manner he drove.

thought i would have a look at the form for tomorrows oamaru races. when i click on the horses, it says the service unavailable. so i thought instead i would have a look at the videos of a couple of races i didn't bother to watch today from hawera. again the service is unavailable. oh well,i'm told last nights 90 day fiance ,happily ever after,which i recorded was a doozy.so i will watch that instead. probably save money by doing that anyway.

i watched the race many times before posting. the reins were out the back and don't see the reins being a factor in why becker fell.. i think its prety clear becker got cut off by delany wanting to do so about 100m before falling,not sure what on earth delany was thinking. then c hackett doing the same just prior to becker falling,without any apparent thought of what was happening inside her. things like that shouldn't happen,but they do up there. i have said a few times,i think its an indication of lack of oversight by those in control and maybe inexperience and sometimes like today,just lack of common sense. the stewards could have called it off,but really who could have anticipated the driving of those involved in becker falling.

race 5 at hawera today. You had to feel sorry for the horse becker. shortly after the start it appears the horse(i'm all in-k coppins), drawn to its outside is allowed to drift in slightly and its back leg makes contact with beckers sulky,causing i'm all in to gallop,then that horse runs in when in a gallop and then this time its front leg makes significant contact with beckers sulky catipulting the driver of becker out of the sulky and giving her little option but to let go . so becker starts off running around after the 3 horses in front of it as another 3 behind it chase just behind it. but waits theres more. down the back straight the horse nearest to becker driven by j dunn jnr, wisely takes the option of giving the driverless becker a wide berth when close to becker,but then n delany on a following horse seemed to think its a good idea to pocket becker in close to the track markers.So delany improves to ahead of becker and starts running in on him. so as delany does that, you get this line of 4 horses,the widest being driven by c hackett who had galloped at the start. The c hackett seems to be unhappy about running wider due to the driverless horse, so she angles her horse in,dictating j dunns line who in turn has no option but to dictate n delanys line,as hes inside him. now, of course,you could see what was going to happen as this unfolded. whats going to happen to poor old becker,who's still inside n delany as delany was trying to,well i'm not sure to be honest. what does happen.Becker gets forced over the markers ,tries to avoid them but has nowhere to go as hackett and delany are both electing to cut him off,and becker frantically tries to stay on his feet, but eventually falls and makes slight contact with delany on the way down. personally i felt quite sorry for the horse as none of it was his fault. there were some very unusual driving tactics in that race ,thats for sure. my guess though is the stipes report will say,no driver was to blame,even though there was.

that raises the question,not how hard is it, like you ask,but whether it is appropraite to expect people to contact hrnz everytime they have an issue with the hrnz website. the question brodie asked is simple enough. Why didn't hrnz notify people through a brief statement on their website,why the ff odds normally shown, aren't currently appearing. i mean,isn't it common sense that it would be easier for them advise everyone through their website instead of promoting people individually call to enquire themselves. what about when the hrnz website stops working,which it does all the time,especially on racedays when people are trying to do the form to make an informed decision about who they may want to bet on. would you recommend people email or phone hrnz every time that happens, because hrnz would be inundated if applied the same advice in that case.

while i' while i'm at it ,i may as well point out another example of "do not believe what you read in hrnz press releases" this week they not only have the nelson/addington race failing to get any support,it was only a few weeks ago they were promoting the $100,000 young guns races at auckland and saying how all the reports they had received indicated there would be good numbers lining up in upcoming 2 year old races in january ,because of the stake money they were prioritisning for the 2 year olds. so what happened with the 2 year old races they referred to. young guns heat for 2yo colts and geldings at auckland-7 starters. young guns heat for 2yo fillies_cancelled due to lack of numbers addington 2 year old race-cancelled due to lack of numbers. so why would hrnz put out all the people they had been talking to had told them they had good numbers for those races. well,i think we can safely assume,that hrnz people,do what i always say they obviously do,they speak to a couple of stables,the ones with the money,and then they hrnz base everything they say and do around that. as i say,its like shooting fish in a barrel. Hrnz are just so out of touch with what works. I would say 80% of what they promote as being good ideas,are not. Have there ever been more out of touch wagering/marketing/programming people in the history of hrnz. i've no personal axe to grind against whoever they are.I just struggle with understanding how dumb they come across.

that should read 6 starters for that race.

so hrnz came up with yet another bright idea that in reality was just dumb.. Hrnz thought they would get extra numbers racing at nelson to qualify for a $35,000 race at addington. A race in which the extras they were hoping for,would have to race against much higher graded horses. Only hrnz could possibly think that would work.. so they end up with just starters in the $35,000 final on friday at addington. pointing out how out of touch wuith reality hrnz and their clever people are is like shooting fish in a barrel.

the government passed legislation that created the legal process for the tab to enter into the agreement with entain. . The nz government never put any money in when the entain deal occured. the nz government provided a support package/bail out for the nz tab/racing industry board around 2020 to the tune of around $70m because the tab had been so poorly run.It was around covid time,but nothing to do with covid.That was a one off to keep the racing industry here afloat. nz government do not fund nz racing anually. never have. once harness have spent their share of the entain money,they have to rely on wagering to cover their stakes. as 've i mentioned previously,fortunately thats not just wagering on nz harness,if it was things would look very dire,but it still appears hrnz are happily spending,without understanding of exactly how much income they will be funded by entain. Entain don't even know,they're also guessing until they have had a year of the geo blocking. as to victoria. victorian harness overspent. So the victorian government came to an agreement where they said,we'll wipe your debt to us,but we're taking your asset worth over 100m, the spare land they around melton. tabcorp has a longer term guaranteed funding agreement with wictorian harness. Nz only has 2 more years guaranteed funding. i've worked for a giovernment department and understand what gamma was saying. They get funded x amount of money each year,then when they get near the end of that finacial year the departments look at what they were allocated and if they haven't spent it all theygo on a bit of a spending spree as that way they can say to the govt,this is waht we spent last year so you need to fund us at least the same this year.Thats totally irrelevant to nz racing as its not governmant funded

of course i'm referring to nz.